Mosaic Minutes

Setting Sail, Day 2 & Spooky Words

We started off today by sharing our spooky words and using them in a round robin story. Everyone took a word that was not their own, and used it in the next sentence in the story. Thanks to Kim for scribing what we came up with – and for reading it out in a spooky voice!

Once there was a cauldron with a baby dragon in it. The cauldron was in a castle and the baby dragon heard a door creak and in walked Bloody Mary. The vampire walked into the room and saw Bloody Mary and started to eat her blood. The vampire heard something from the cauldron and the baby dragon turned into a brain sucking zombie. The zombie made the second dragon its slave. The spooky dragon turned into another zombie. When the vampire ate Bloody Mary’s soul, she turned into The Scream. The vampire said, “This is spooky and creepy.” The zombie got up out of the cauldron, snuck up behind The Scream and cried, “Boo!” There was a creepy noise in the roof and a ghost came down that was very fat and it sucked all the people in the whole entire room up and ate them and exploded.

Then we continued on our journeys. We listened to those writers who had completed their characters at home before moving on to the next step. Those who didn’t have the opportunity started by working on the characters, while the others sat on the various rugs that were “their vessels” and embarked on Day One of the Journey. Each student had a map, their vehicle’s name plate, and a telescope with which to observe what was going on around them – in their imagination, of course.

Day One was all about observation. What did the scenery about them look like? How could they use their senses (and many of them did a fantastic job with this) to describe what they were seeing? What was the weather like? Did they see any animals around them? Was it a good day? After making their observations, they started a Captain’s Log, which described their Day 1 on their journey.

Day Two was a day of conflict. Something had to go wrong. Was it a storm? Did someone come and attack them? A gang of brigands, perhaps, or a wild beast? How did they feel about this? I asked that they use dialogue in Day Two to help make the story come alive. Following this day, they recorded the story as Day 2 in their Captain’s Log.

Finally, some of the students began Day 3. Day 3 is a day of victory – it’s when our intrepid travelers reach their destination. They should make sure that they include how they feel, particularly after the terrors and worries of the day before, in the 3rd entry of their Captain’s Log.

Next week we’ll complete our journeys. For homework, please have your students finish or start the log for the next day on their travels, either Day 1, 2, or 3. With Halloween this Friday starting the holiday season, this week’s word collection should be holidays!